26 November, 2010

It's amazing what can be done with a bit of fabric, some thread, and a needle. Bethany in particular has been hand-sewing for several years now. She loves making clothes for her beanie bear and Sylvanians.

Here are some of the outfits made for "Pinky" this year:

These are some pictures from a Sylvanian wedding. Most of the outfits were hand-made by Bethany:

The girls all love to use my sewing machine too. Ainsley (8 yrs) designed and made her own apron:

Bethany has adapted a tote bag pattern we have used to make little bags of all different sizes. Here is the latest one. Beth made the tassel out of a skein of embroidery thread:

08 November, 2010

One problem I had when deciding which Shakespeare play to start reading through was that I didn't know what most of the plays were about! I had studied MacBeth and King Lear in high school, but I didn't think the girls would enjoy them first up.

I found this lovely book on Trademe a few months ago, and I'm so glad I did. It has short summaries on every one of Shakespeare's plays, all written by Marchette Chute. The summaries are all around 10-12 pages in length, some shorter, so they are quickly read. Published first in 1960, my edition was published in 1979 and features a lovely dustjacket with illustrations of some of the characters from the plays.

04 November, 2010

We got a parcel in the mail today. Bethany won the Dr. Suess Poem Competition for her poem, Dixie Cook! She received a book of New Zealand stories called Pick 'n' Mix: Assorted Kiwi Stories. Emily also received an achievement certificate.